A few weeks ago I moved into a new flat. The new place is not far from the old one, but the shops I used to go to are no longer on my usual way and so I had to look for a new, conveniently located grocery store.
I found a shop near the station and went in to buy the only think I really needed: cereals.
When I finally found the cereals in the shop that could easily have been a venue for a U2 concert, I was so overwhelmed by the number of cereal boxes that I had to take a moment and a picture before tackling the aisle. I am not particularly good at judging distances, but I guess that the aisle was at least 30 – 40m long with five rows per shelf.
I found a shop near the station and went in to buy the only think I really needed: cereals.
When I finally found the cereals in the shop that could easily have been a venue for a U2 concert, I was so overwhelmed by the number of cereal boxes that I had to take a moment and a picture before tackling the aisle. I am not particularly good at judging distances, but I guess that the aisle was at least 30 – 40m long with five rows per shelf.
Honey-nut cheerios, multi-grain cheerios, very-berry cheerios, whole-grain cheerios, chocolate cheerios, apple cheerios, frosted cheerios.. and these are only the cheerios! Oh. My. Word. Who could possibly need this amount of choice?
And how is it possible that in these 200m of straight-line cereal boxes, there was not one that had less than 10g of sugar per 100g? How can all these choices be bad choices?
A day later I listened to a podcast about the US supermarket Trader Joe’s, which is owned by the German Supermarket Aldi. Trader Joes follows the German discounter model and offers a limited range of store brand products. Instead of 50,000 products the average American supermarket offers (30,000 in Germany by the way, just for comparison sake), Trader Joe’s only offers around 3,000 products. So you can buy everything you need – but you just have a lot less choice.
At Trader Joe’s you can't choose between honey-nut, multi-grain, very-berry… and the other eighteen types of cheerios, but might only be able to pick from one of two varieties.
And despite – or in fact – because of this, Trader Joe’s has the highest rate of revenue per square metre among all American supermarkets. Because, as all psychology studies tell us, too much choice sparks interest – but not action. The more options you give a person, the less likely they are to choose one.
I feel that way in so many parts of my life: Restaurants to go to is the biggest one. I don’t want to have to choose between Thai, Italian, Korean, American, Mexican-Japanese Fusion or twenty other types of cuisines; but I am quite happy to pick between Thai and Italian. I don’t want to go to a shop and look at three floors of women’s clothing – I would rather pick from the five pieces my StitchFix stylist sends me whenever I ask her to. And I don’t want to pick from an unlimited number of music choices but am quite content listening to my favourite albums over and over again and maybe adding a couple new ones per year.
I would have previously thought that I’m getting old and / or boring, but thank goodness psychology is on my side and tells me I’m just being a perfectly rational human being in a country that is the cradle of consumerism.
And how is it possible that in these 200m of straight-line cereal boxes, there was not one that had less than 10g of sugar per 100g? How can all these choices be bad choices?
A day later I listened to a podcast about the US supermarket Trader Joe’s, which is owned by the German Supermarket Aldi. Trader Joes follows the German discounter model and offers a limited range of store brand products. Instead of 50,000 products the average American supermarket offers (30,000 in Germany by the way, just for comparison sake), Trader Joe’s only offers around 3,000 products. So you can buy everything you need – but you just have a lot less choice.
At Trader Joe’s you can't choose between honey-nut, multi-grain, very-berry… and the other eighteen types of cheerios, but might only be able to pick from one of two varieties.
And despite – or in fact – because of this, Trader Joe’s has the highest rate of revenue per square metre among all American supermarkets. Because, as all psychology studies tell us, too much choice sparks interest – but not action. The more options you give a person, the less likely they are to choose one.
I feel that way in so many parts of my life: Restaurants to go to is the biggest one. I don’t want to have to choose between Thai, Italian, Korean, American, Mexican-Japanese Fusion or twenty other types of cuisines; but I am quite happy to pick between Thai and Italian. I don’t want to go to a shop and look at three floors of women’s clothing – I would rather pick from the five pieces my StitchFix stylist sends me whenever I ask her to. And I don’t want to pick from an unlimited number of music choices but am quite content listening to my favourite albums over and over again and maybe adding a couple new ones per year.
I would have previously thought that I’m getting old and / or boring, but thank goodness psychology is on my side and tells me I’m just being a perfectly rational human being in a country that is the cradle of consumerism.
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